Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 12

“Yes! It’s wonderful! Everyone’s been so kind in teaching me.”
Over the past few days, Jinzeo’s face had become practically radiant.
She was already the type to live for money, and the thought of earning it from Kailerus for work that wasn’t even difficult, plus getting a monthly wage from me—it must have thrilled her to her core.
“I’m glad. I hope you’ll stay here and work for a long time.”
Color bloomed across Jinzeo’s cheeks.
Knowing her true nature as I did, I could only marvel.
“You can call me Jinzeo, Director!”
“Is that so? Thank you, Jinzeo.”
“Not at all, Director!”
Well, time to move on to the real business at hand.
I didn’t have time to spend a few more days coaxing her over to my side.
Noah might already be planning something for tomorrow, for all I knew.
“So, about that.”
I watched Jinzeo, her fingers interlaced and chin resting on her clasped hands, her back held perfectly straight.
“Yes?”
“I’m thinking of assigning you a task. Would that be alright?”
“Of course! Please, tell me anything!”
“I believe you’re quite a versatile talent.”
“Ah, thank you for seeing me that way.”
“Before that, may I ask you something?”
“Yes! You can ask me anything!”
“How much did you receive from Kailerus Hadid for this job?”
I toyed with a pen.
…….
Jinzeo Perian’s eyes widened, and she tilted her head in confusion.
Those innocent-looking lime-green eyes blinked several times as she seemed to replay my words.
“Jinzeo?”
“I apologize, Director. I’m afraid I didn’t quite understand you.”
Ah, that could happen.
I understood. I decided to explain again, step by step.
“Right. Let me ask again. How much did Kailerus Hadid pay you for this job? How long have you been working under him?”
“I’m not sure what you mean. Kai? Lerus? Hadid? …who is that person? If necessary, I can go out right now and find out for you!”
Jinzeo continued to evade, using that innocent face of hers as a weapon.
“No need to investigate.”
I set down the pen and rose from my chair, moving toward Jinzeo.
She flinched, her shoulders trembling, but held her ground—as though fleeing would make me suspicious.
I closed the distance until my hand could almost reach her.
The moment I extended my hand, Jinzeo tried to bolt from her chair.
“Hm?”
Unable to move as though her legs were bound, Jinzeo looked up at me with startled eyes.
Normally, I don’t use Illusion Magic except in emergencies.
No matter how much control I exercise, Illusion Sorcery is a power rooted in Black Magic.
Its foundation is Black Magic, after all.
That’s why I rarely use it on my people. Of course, that includes my employees.
Jinzeo hasn’t yet proven herself to be one of mine, so she’s an exception.
I smiled thinly and brought my hand to her neck.
A pendant necklace slipped free with a soft glimmer, peeking out from beneath her collar.
The cross-shaped jewel embedded in it was shining like an opal.
Not that it matters—this isn’t some charm to ward off evil spirits. Why would an Illusion Sorcerer need one anyway?
Besides, from what I knew, Jinzeo Perian had no religious faith whatsoever.
“Ah…….”
A sigh escaped Jinzeo’s lips.
When I let a small amount of my mana flow into the necklace, it flared defensively, repelling my power.
It was a Spirit Stone—it reacted to Black Magic.
When I pushed harder, there was a sharp crack, and the jewel split down the middle.
“Didn’t anyone tell you this wouldn’t work on me?”
What Jinzeo was wearing around her neck was a Spirit Stone meant to protect against Mental-Type Black Magic such as Illusion Magic.
She must have heard from Kailerus that I’m an Illusion Magic user. That’s why she came so thoroughly prepared.
But this kind of thing doesn’t work on me.
I’d watched Hazel take on everything that came her way without refusing a single task, overworking herself until I mistook her for just another powerless extra.
But after experiencing it firsthand and actually using my abilities, I realized she only exerted herself fully in purges and battles—she never properly used her strength for her own sake.
Her Illusion Magic ability far surpassed the highest tier, and I knew that ordinary Spirit Stones couldn’t block her power.
She was even eager to learn, so though she wasn’t skilled, there were traces of her dabbling in other types of magic as well.
Of course, she couldn’t wield the four elements or anything, since Mental-Type Black Magic already saturated her body.
A powerful Illusion Sorcerer’s strength worked even against Black Magic users who wielded the same fundamental power.
So there was nothing in the world she feared—except that this Mental-Type Black Magic didn’t work at all against Kailerus Hadid, the mastermind behind it all, and she wanted to avoid him at all costs. Though that ended in spectacular failure.
When I held the Pendant Necklace up before Jinzeo’s eyes, she averted her gaze before suddenly hanging her head low.
Then she buried her face in her two free hands.
“Sob… Boss, why are you suddenly doing this to me……”
“Hmm…?”
Tears began dripping between her fingers.
Within seconds, a few drops had soaked through Jinzeo’s uniform pants.
Is she actually crying right now?
I stared at Jinzeo in bewilderment.
“That’s… that’s the only heirloom my parents left me, and—sob—”
“A heirloom from your parents?”
Jinzeo nodded vigorously.
“Yes, they left it for me when I was young—it’s the only memento I have left of them. Sob! Even if you’re the boss, you can’t just handle it so carelessly…! I don’t even know what I did wrong, but if you’d just tell me, I—I could have fixed it…!”
I stared at Jinzeo for a long moment, still holding the broken Pendant Necklace.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her tears streaming down continuously—her nose and eyes already flushed red.
Her face was full of sorrow, resentment, shock, and every emotion in between.
Hmm, I didn’t intend to make her cry like this.
“Jinzeo…? First, try to calm down.”
“Sob, you’re being too harsh, boss…! What did I do wrong? If you tell me, I’ll—I’ll fix it! Please, please give it back to me. It’s really, really precious……”
I had no choice but to speak up.
“Jinzeo, I’m sorry. First, stop crying.”
“…Sniff—”
“I said stop.”
“Sniff, yes, okay. Sob.”
“Stop crying. Your parents are alive and well right now anyway.”
“Yes…? What do you mean by that…?”
A transparent teardrop fell from Jinzeo’s blinking eyes.
“Biological father Regos Perrian, biological mother Jolie Perrian. Currently running a large tavern in a village in Western Castalte. The tavern’s name—is it ‘A Night Forgotten’ by any chance?”
I rattled off the brief details I’d seen in the original work.
“W-what?”
Jinzeo’s eyes shook violently.
“You ran away from home a few years ago because of family troubles, right? Your father secretly misused your name a few times and got caught—you had a huge fight about that. Your parents have a fraud record, which is why they ended up in Castalte. Because of that, you accumulated debt you didn’t even know about, didn’t you?”
“N-no, what…?”
“After reconciling, you’ve been visiting once or twice a year, right? Isn’t that how it is?”
“……”
Jinzeo closed her mouth.
Her face was still wet, but her crying had stopped cold.
“Since you didn’t even change your name and you’re using your real name, it looks like you weren’t trying to hide anything. Ah—I suppose you thought there’d be no way anyone would figure it out, even if you used your real name.”
For an ordinary person, who would know who Regos Perrian and Jolie Perrian were? They weren’t celebrities.
I rattled the broken Pendant Necklace and showed it to her again.
I smiled slightly, displaying the underside of the broken pendant.
“And look—there’s a maker’s signature here at the bottom. Lin Carter. Made this January. Since it’s new, it’s all shiny and polished. It’s not secondhand, and you must have spent good money on it.”
“……”
“A heirloom my foot.”
I clicked my tongue in disbelief.
A heavy silence fell over the room.
After standing stunned for a long moment, Perrian’s mouth finally opened.
“…Damn it.”
“Hmm?”
“I just told you to be aware, but nobody said you were this much of a dangerous person…—$&@#*!”
As she spoke with her brow furrowed, pouring out a stream of curses, I barely managed to stifle a laugh.
Who knew such innocent-looking features were capable of this.
“I’m not in danger.”
At that, Jinzeo’s eyes flicked between the shattered pendant necklace and me, cursing silently.
“How did you know?”
Her gaze burned with defiance.
Reluctant as I was, if Jinzeo intended to keep serving Kailerus, I could wipe today’s memory clean and send her on her way—or turn her brain to mush and be done with it.
“Politely. Or would you prefer I turn your brain to mush?”
“…yes.”
Satisfied, I smiled and fastened the pendant necklace back around her neck.
“Never mind that. Tell me how much Noah—I mean, Kailerus has been paying you. Haven’t you been working long, have you? I need to do some calculations.”
Jinzeo answered readily, stating the amount.
“Five hundred thousand Gold a month.”
“Pfft.”
“…yes.”
I’d expected her to hold out longer, but apparently her mental arithmetic was sharp.
Then again, she’d signed on for the money alone, so loyalty would be a foreign concept.
“Five hundred thousand Gold?”
I was genuinely shocked. That much?
Even accounting for wealth, that’s lavish—downright extravagant.
It wasn’t counterfeit money, but that wage was excessive for work like this.
More than what I’d earned as a senior knight’s base salary.
Of course, I’d received additional allowances on top, and combined they’d been far higher—but that required grinding through overtime, all-nighters, and frequent subjugation missions. And that was at the senior level!
Do you remember?
When I was first scrounging to establish the Mercenary Guild, my bank account held exactly four hundred thousand Gold.
Even now, it seems an improbable figure unless I’d been making significant donations, but regardless.
Before the Mercenary Guild took off like this, earning a hundred thousand Gold per month was a struggle.
Then Nizela must be pulling in far more.
So that’s how it works. Pay them enough, and they stay loyal.
It was beginning to make sense.
I deliberated for a moment, then turned toward the safe behind my desk.
I withdrew a small gold ingot.
Then I shook my head, stuffed two million Gold into my pocket instead, and pulled out a large gold ingot.
Thunk.
As I set the ingot on the desk before Jinzeo, its substantial weight made her throat bob silently, her mouth falling open.
Her eyes looked ready to bulge from their sockets.
Eventually a drop of drool spilled free, and she hurriedly snapped her mouth shut with a gulp.
“Two million Gold advance.”
I shook the heavy pouch rhythmically, and I heard Jinzeo swallow again, audible even to my ears.
Her eyes were already half-glassed over, fixed not on the coin purse but on the ingot.
Her mouth was falling open again.
No, look here—

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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